Château de Breteuil is built on a promontory overlooking the Chevreuse Valley. For most of its existence, the castle has been known as Bévilliers -from latin bis villae (two villas)- which implies that this property would date back to the gallo-roman period.
The first estate appears in History as early as 1066 with Guillaume Osbern, the first Breteuil, who was Seneschal to the Duke of Normandy. Guillaume Osbern took part in the conquest of England by William the Conqueror, who saw him as his most faithful companion. In the summer of 1067 the King returned to Normandy, leaving the Lord of Breteuil and his brother in charge of England in his absence.
At the time, a fortified castle was built in Bévilliers; its dovecote and moats still remain today. In 1596, Thibaut Desportes bought the estate still called Bévilliers. Bordered by medieval square moats, a new castle was laid out around an enclosed courtyard, A pleasure garden was carefully thought out, situated at the foot of the north facade, so that the sun never glares into the eyes of the person contemplating it.
The curtain walls were removed and moat dried in 1820-1830. The major restoration took place in the end of the 19th century: two wings were added and the gardens were extended.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.